This invention relates to a brake mechanism for an automotive vehicle and more specifically to an improved fabricated brake shoe which is particularly useful in a brake mechanism employing floating brake shoes.
For purposes of this invention, floating brake shoes shall mean those brake shoes which when assembled in a brake mechanism are actuated at one end and, although anchored at the other end to resist the brake torque, they are not fixedly anchored to the brake mechanism support, but are free to move or float relative to an abutment serving as the anchoring surface. The improved brake shoe of this invention is particularly useful in dual actuated brake mechanisms in which both brake shoes become leading brake shoes. One such brake mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,269,492, which issued to F. T. Cox, et al, on Aug. 30, 1966.
The brake shoes employed in that as well as other brake mechanisms are comprised of an elongate curved table which supports the friction lining and a web extending along a substantial length of the inner surface of the table to reinforce the brake shoe table and provide means for mounting and moving the brake shoe. In a fabricated brake shoe the web is formed as a separate element and welded to the inner surface of the table. The brake shoe webs have commonly been dimensioned to extend from edge to edge across the full arcuate length of the table. This reinforces the arcuate length of the brake shoe and provides maximum support to the longitudinally spaced edges of the brake shoe table at the relatively high temperature and pressure generated under dynamic braking conditions.
The structure of the fabricated brake shoe of the present invention deviates from this practice and improves performance under dynamic braking conditions.